SDH174: Being Real. Living Honestly. Finding Your Power with Catherine Grace O'Connell

How many times have you felt as if the weight of the world was on your shoulders, and when asked what's wrong you said, 'I'm fine!'? How did that affect you emotionally? Why couldn't you say what was wrong? Catherine Grace O'Connell said that this is due to the societal pressures that people, more specifically women, face to keep up a perfect facade. Most women are taught not to acknowledge or express the exhaustion from the stressors in our lives, which could be motherhood or possibly marriage. By conforming to these pressures, we can end up loosing ourselves in the waves that society and life has laid before us. Catherine said the key to finding yourself again is by becoming honest and aware of our emotions and speaking on them so we can begin to effectively heal and gain clarity, as well as empowerment. This is why as a fashion lifestyle blogger, radio host, and journalist she aims to use her platforms to promote open, and real communication, as a stepping stone for women to find their strength and empowerment. This was done for her by Jen Sincero, with her book , You are a Badass, and brand after Catherine almost lost her life due to lyme disease in 2014. Along with a blog Catherine had started, her connection with Jen helped unlock the fierce strength she had inside of herself and made her want to help open that for other women as well. Catherine said through real communication, we can begin to live honestly and mentally heal ourselves of our insecurities, internal sufferings, and negative baggage. That is why she is so willing to share her story with others and wants to create a supportive community with her brand. Come with us as we delve into how her near death experience helped to reinvent and empower herself, and how she empowers other women like with her new podcast Cat & Kaehler with cohost Kathy Kaehler, and her Fierce 50 Campaign! In this episode you will... Figure out how to shed light on an invisible demographic with your brand Learn how to know yourself at your deepest level and empower yourself Become comfortable with expressing your true emotions and taking steps to heal and be real with others and yourself Know how to promote authenticity and promote positivity with your platform and brand Find your method of emotional expression Realize that a lot of situations in life have nothing to do with you but are a reaction to something larger INSIGHTS "Fashion is my medium, it is not my message. I find fashion to be a very powerful medium and platform, yet my message is really all about empowering women." -Catherine Grace O'Connell "This Fierce 50, it's really a part of my brand now and we're all about shifting the perception of women over 50, because the truth is...Advertising and marketing really hasn't opened up to our demographic...My message is not 'us vs. the younger demographic'. What about all of us? It's really a reflection of society now and [how] we've really come together." -Catherine Grace O'Connell "Personal empowerment really was my way out. I stopped all the crazy stuff people do to heal and I empowered myself, very much like [Jen Sincero] did in the [You are a Badass] book, and it was incredible what that change has brought in my life...not allowing people to define us; really staying true to who we are authentically...we can really stand up inside of ourselves [and] have very firm energetic boundaries." -Catherine Grace O'Connell "I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve and I share it all, because the truth is if we're not open and honest we can't give others the permission to be open and honest as well, and we're all suffering in some way...but the key to healing ourselves and healing others is to really let those walls come down." -Catherine Grace O'Connell "This platform that I have now...is really all about being as real as I possibly can. Not negative, but real." -Catherine Grace O'Connell "We do others a disservice when we always put that happy face on and we constantly deny that there's something off in our lives, and things aren't perfect...you have to be real with this." -Catherine O'Connell RESOURCES Catherine Grace O Website Catherine Grace O LinkedIn Catherine Grace O Facebook Catherine Grace O Instagram Catherine Grace O Twitter You are a Badass by Jen Sincero Cat & Kaehler Podcast Fierce 50 Campaign A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem by Wayne Dyer Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins Letting Go by David R. Hawkins The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz